ACLU sues Town of Milton over political sign removal

MILTON, Del. – The Town of Milton is being sued by the ACLU of Delaware after a resident was told to remove political signs from her front yard.

Penny Nickerson, a Milton resident says, “Probably in January or early February I put up signs about my political options. And middle of February or so I as told that they were political signs and I had to take them down,”

Nickerson says she took down the signs temporarily after being contacted by a code enforcement officer

According to town rules, political signs can go up 90 days before an election and must come down 14 days after an election.

Nickerson says that rule is violating her right to free speech.

“We have our rights to our opinions,’ says Nickerson.

Nickerson says she spoke with the town’s attorney, but couldn’t reach an agreement

“I thought it was going to be an easy couple of conversations. This is what the first amendment says, this is what the United States Supreme Court says. You can’t deny me my right. But it didn’t turn out to be that simple,” says Nickerson.

This led Nickerson to reach out to the ACLU of Delaware for help. The ACLU of Delaware has filed a lawsuit against the town on behalf of Nickerson.

“We hope that the court will declare this particular section of the Town of Milton’s code unconstitutional,” says Kathleen MacRae, the Executive Director of the ACLU of Del.

Nickerson says she just wants to be able to share her opinion and freely display her signs.

The ACLU of Delaware tells us winning monetary damages from the lawsuit is not a priority. They want this case to serve as an example that freedom of speech should be protected, regardless of political views.

47 ABC reached out to the Town of Milton for a comment regarding the lawsuit, but have yet to hear back as of Wednesday afternoon.